Generally speaking, a drawer or the like can be pulled out of or pushed back into a frame (e.g., a cabinet) by means of slide rails, and the pulling or pushing process is accomplished mostly by the force exerted by the operator. Currently, the market is also supplied with products featuring automatic slide rail retraction, in which the slide rails are automatically retractable so that a drawer pushed toward the retracted position and having entered the last part of its retracting course can be driven to the retracted position automatically.
Designs of such automatically retractable slide rails are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,712,435; 6,733,097; 6,971,729; and 7,878,606, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The '435 patent discloses a self-closing slide which, according to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3, and FIG. 16 of the patent, includes a self-closing mechanism (46) mounted at an end portion of an outer slide member (16). The self-closing mechanism (46) generally includes a housing (48), a spring (86) located in the housing (48), a guide pin (78) extending through the spring (86), and a slot (90). The slot (90) includes a longitudinal portion (92) and a transverse portion (100) extending transversely with respect to the longitudinal portion (92). The slot (90) is provided therein with an actuator guide member (108) displaceable between the transverse portion (100) and the longitudinal portion (92). In addition, an inner slide member (12) has an end portion formed with a first slot portion (110) and a second slot portion (114). The first slot portion (110) at the end portion of the inner slide member (12) corresponds to the actuator guide member (108) in the housing (48) of the self-closing mechanism (46). When the inner slide member (12) is displaced toward a retracted position, the actuator guide member (108) is guided by the first slot portion (110) and the second slot portion (114) of the inner slide member (12) and, thanks to the elastic force provided by the spring (86) along the guide pin (78), retracts the inner slide member (12) automatically. Thus, the objective of providing a self-closing slide is achieved.
It can be known from the patents cited above that automatically retractable slide rails are diversified in design, which reflects the market demand for such products. It is important, therefore, to make further improvement on the existing automatic retraction function and develop an easy-to-operate self-closing slide rail assembly in which a slide rail automatically retracted toward a retracted position relative to another slide rail is moved to the retracted position not only automatically but also slowly.